Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2017
1341. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to introduce a scheme to deal with the number of derelict buildings on main streets in towns and villages in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46602/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe economic downturn had a significant negative impact on our urban centres giving rise to increased vacancy and dereliction in our cities, towns and villages. In recognition of this, the Programme for a Partnership Government published in May 2016 set out an ambitious priority for urban renewal with a view to breathing life back into our urban centres and helping to make them more attractive places in which to live and work. The subsequent Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, published in July 2016, reinforces the Government’s commitment to the area of urban regeneration, and proposed a further range of measures.
As announced in Budget 2018 last month, a new programme of €50m in Exchequer funding, supplemented by an additional minimum 20% contribution from local authorities, is being introduced to support projects and initiatives to regenerate and revitalise depopulated urban areas. A particular focus of the scheme will be on addressing vacancy and dereliction with a view to bringing properties back into productive use for housing and other purposes while also maximising linkages with other existing programmes such as the Repair and Leasing and Buy and Renew Schemes. An initial €10m is being made available in 2018 to get the programme underway. The terms of the new scheme will be finalised later this year, in consultation with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders, to maximise the potential outcomes from the available funding.
Specific initiatives, the Repair and Leasing Initiative and the Buy and Renew Scheme, have been introduced to support efforts by local authorities to engage with property owners with a view to bringing vacant residential property back into use for social housing purposes. Further actions are also being developed to help address vacancy and dereliction. In this regard, action 5.9 of Rebuilding Ireland commits to reviewing planning legislation to allow the change of use of vacant commercial units in urban areas, including vacant or under-utilised areas over ground-floor premises, into residential units without having to go through the planning process. This proposal is also incorporated in Action 6 of the Action Plan for Rural Development, launched in January 2017. My Department is presently progressing the drafting of the necessary revisions to the planning regulations to give effect to this action and it is intended that the new regulations, which will require the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas, will be made as soon as possible.
In relation to dereliction generally, the Derelict Sites Act 1990 imposes a general duty on every owner and occupier of land to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the land does not become or continue to be a derelict site. It also imposes a duty on local authorities to take all reasonable steps, including the exercise of any appropriate statutory powers, to ensure that any land within their functional area does not become or continue to be a derelict site. In this context, local authorities have a range of powers to deal with derelict sites within their functional areas, including powers to require specified measures to be taken in relation to a derelict site, to impose a levy on sites which are included in the local authority’s derelict sites register, or to compulsorily acquire any derelict site.
I am informed that Monaghan County Council has been adopting a pro-active approach on urban regeneration and addressing dereliction in its five main towns and to a lesser degree in its villages since 2015. In this regard -
- a full time member of staff has been assigned to co-ordinate urban regeneration measures generally;
- some 35 properties have been included on the Derelict Sites Register, with acquisitions on specific properties and other actions commenced under the Derelict Sites Act processes; and
- Town and Village Renewal Scheme and Rural Economic Development Zones (REDZ) funding, under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, has been allocated to support a number of urban regeneration initiatives locally.
